Body Bank

[JBALL]

Hello,

I know I probably should just buy Phil's book but can someone give me a overview of what the "body bank" was?

I've seen the term used in a few posts and was curious.

Thanks, Jason

[Keith Seymore]

It's an accumulator between either the BIW build and paint shop, or between paint and general assembly. Normally it has several rows of vehicles lined up, and bodies can be pulled from the first position of any row in order to balance work load or option content downstream.

It also serves as a "buffer" in case either the body shop or paint goes down due to a maintenance issue or material shortage and allows the final line to run unaffected (for a little while, anyway).

K

[JBALL]

Thanks Keith. That helps.


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Keith Seymore</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It's an accumulator between either the BIW build and paint shop, or between paint and general assembly. Normally it has several rows of vehicles lined up, and bodies can be pulled from the first position of any row in order to balance work load or option content downstream.

It also serves as a &quot;buffer&quot; in case either the body shop or paint goes down due to a maintenance issue or material shortage and allows the final line to run unaffected (for a little while, anyway).

K</div></div>

[m22mike]

From CRG.

Chevrolet Overview
Body Bank: Receives the body shell from Fisher, assigns VIN and stamps the hidden VINs, separates them by major Chevrolet equipment and option content, and schedules them in &quot;locked&quot; sequence to the Chevrolet Trim Line; specs for each car are &quot;broadcast&quot; to subassembly and feeder lines throughout the plant.

Here is a good read if you have never seen it.

1st generation Camaro assembly process (http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml)

[earntaz]

Thanks for the learnin' y'all ... TAZ

[iluv69s]

Sort on the same but different topic when I've seen that some vins were 'held in query'..what's that mean ?

[Keith Seymore]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: iluv69s</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Sort on the same but different topic when I've seen that some vins were 'held in query'..what's that mean ? </div></div>

I haven't seen that specific verbiage but I imagine it relates to one of those vehicles or vehicle orders that is being &quot;held back&quot; while awaiting material availability or some other issue (ideally before the build is started). In really bad situations the vehicle can actually be removed from the body shop carrier or paint carrier (via fork truck) and placed in the aisle indefintely. Otherwise it is also holding up all of the other bodies behind it in that same row.

We've seen some Pontiacs from the Pontiac Michigan plant (which had an 8 lane body bank at the completion of the Fisher side) which note &quot;body in aisle&quot;.

Once the vehicle drops into trim (or into the PMD side in Pontiac) the build order is locked down, barring any catastrophe.

K

[70 copo]

Interesting bit of information to add. The management teams of Fisher Body and Chevrolet had a communication structure that was highly political since charge backs were always a risk if the pissing match got too heated.

Sufficient to say that either side got things messed up often and as such the body banks on both sides and offset areas (more often than not) acted as accumulator banks to provide a buffer for either side to continue production for a short period of time.

for that reason a healthy Chevrolet Chassis side body bank was never more than 50% full in case there was a stoppage on the chassis side like a white automatic body dropping onto a waiting 4 speed drivetrain where blue fenders were sequenced at sheetmetal drop 20 feet further down the line.

The stories that are not in the book that I could tell... <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/drool.gif